MLL Check In: Charlotte Hounds

The Charlotte Hounds (1-3) are traveling up to New York this Friday to take on the Lizards, who have a 2-2 record. Don’t let the Hound’s 1-3 record fool you, though, this isn’t the Hounds team that finished 7th in the league last year. The Hounds have been missing attackmen such as Matt Danowski (2 GP) and incoming rookie Mike Sawyer (1 GP), and still stand at third in league in goals scored (51) and second in goals assisted (27). Adding Mike Sawyer to attack gives the Hounds a great four-man rotation, and opportunities for Sawyer and Eric Lusby to play the two-man-game as they did when they won a national championship together at Loyola. Speaking of championships, Danowski and defenseman Joe Cinosky (1g) are returning to Charlotte on high spirits after helping coach their alma matter, Duke University, to its second national championship.

Despite missing a game, former-Lizard Ryan Young is still 5th in the league in goals scored, making Billy Bitter only a distant memory to Hounds fans.

So don’t write the Hounds off for their 1-3 record quite yet, the Rattlers, Nationals, and Outlaws combine for a 9-3 record, proving that the Hounds have faced arguably the hardest part of this year’s schedule. They’ve kept up with these teams, losing in a heart-wrenching fashion to the Nationals without several of their starters. With the Hounds boasting their full roster again, they could be a force to reckon with in this year’s playoff race.